My Aunt & Uncle dropped me off early. They didn't want to get caught in the rush hour traffic, especially this close to a major holiday, which was fine with me. I ate some fabulous Quizno's broccoli n' cheese soup while sitting next to a guy & his teenage daughters. He looked strangely familiar & the daughters had on Father Ryan sweats. Anyway, the girls started to remind me of "valley girls" so I got up & walked around. Turns out they were on the plane with me.
Fastforward to yesterday's game...the man I saw with his daughter's is affiliated with the Titans. He's not a coach but I have yet to figure out who he is... I knew he looked familiar. When he walked out of the tunnel during warm ups, I told Patti, "That guy was on the plane Tues evening."
I had not flown since June. I was pleased to see the construction was finished at the airport. NICE. I snapped a pic of the "Tootsies" they have copied from downtown & put in the airport.
My flight left maybe 5 mins early & we landed right on time. I got my bag within 15 mins while Patti circled. We got to bed sometime close to midnight, I think...I was exhausted. I had been up since 5am trying to get out the door to work.
Wednesday morning started off with the best intentions of going to Bally's gym, but we had too much on the agenda. Patti had to drop by there to pay her trainer & then we dropped by Ross Fine Candy where my Aunt Diane works. Her best friend, Janet, used to own it but she died of breast cancer a few years ago. Aunt Diane helps Janet's kids run it now. It's a chocolate lover's dream, trust me. :)
Aunt Diane & me in the candy store.
Me with SOLID chocolate Santa. He was heavy!
Two little old ladies at the candy store. :P
Patti pretending to lick the caramel. Yes, there's a HUGE vat of warm caramel in the back of this place. It's like walking through the chocolate factory. Crazy girl!!! This is also her KISS impression too.
Patti with Mr. Chocolate Santa. At the risk of being politically incorrect. I joked that there should be a white chocolate Santa sitting next to him so they could be "Ebony & Ivory living in perfect harmony" in Ross Fine Candy store. :P
We went to Patti's first visit with her holistic doctor, Dr. Tent. I waited in the waiting room for almost an hour & a half. I didn't mind at all but they had his latest seminar running for those waiting. I hated the sound of his voice, which is high pitched whiny. Patti had been waiting for 6 months for an appt with him because he came highly recommended. He gave her a bag of stuff to help with memory sharpness & away we went to eat a very late lunch at Bahama Breeze. It was cool. We got tropical drinks & ate like pigs. Then we stopped at what I think was Twelve Oaks mall for just an hour or so... We got back here at the house for some family time & to get ready for a long Thanksgiving day, which started at 6am. No gym time but I'm ok with that. I hope to walk on Sunday with Joe & get back to "normal" on Monday. :)
We got out the door in our game gear about 7:30am. We paid $10 to park at the Greektown parking garage. I had to pee so we went in the casino area. The front desk guard told us like 3X that you had to be 21 to go in & we kept saying, "Ok". She wouldn't come right out & ask for our IDs. Finally after the 4th time of me looking at her puzzled & telling her that I was almost 42, she asked for my ID. She "regrouped" with the comment, "Oh....well, you look good." She let me go in & then Patti went in...gesh! I'm taking it as a huge compliment but getting yelled at that early in the morning made my stomach hurt. :( Maybe she HATES the Titans, who knows...
We then headed over to Ford Field where we immediately ran into some Clarkville people who drove up for the game. They were incredibly nice. We got a few boos & tons of "Go Titans!" screamed at us as we walked by. Lots of people liked my pants, lots of strangers wanted to take our picture. Some didn't even want to get in the pic with us they just wanted to take our picture. Odd? You would think this town never saw
"away fans" dressed up. Oh yeah, I think the sign got lots of attention on the street too. Duh!! We watched the parade after getting some coffee, walked into some building where there's a "Hard Rock Cafe". I stared at a few rockstars outfits while trying to get warm. A family approached us. They introduced themselves but right now their names escape me. Turns out the wife just moved here from Fayetteville, TN. I said, "oh, you were just 40 mins from Tullahoma from me." I could tell she was pretty homesick for sure, bless her heart. The scene sort of reminded me of the times I'd go into the Nuremburg Army Exchange. I would start speaking & someone would come up to me, hug me, & ask me if I were from TN. Being away from "home" does that to people.
So, off to the parade the "Away Fans" went...
1st float of parade.
2nd float of parade.
I love Elmo!
Me with Turkey outside of Detroit Hard Rock Cafe. My face is slighly frozen. :P
We took photos of Tiger stadium, which looks REALLY cool. I'd love to come back for a game sometime even though I'm not a huge baseball fan. Watch out for that paw!
We strolled over to the Fox Theater, too.
After the long awaited start to the parade, Hard Rock, & some fast sight seeing, I was getting antsy so we headed back to Ford Field where we stood in line answering questions, talking to folks, & just basically hanging out until they let us in... The flag had to be dismantled. Turns out they don't allow people to bring in flags on "sticks". No big deal but it's ironic that I got that flag as a "giveaway" at a Titans game. LP Field didn't consider them a "weapon". ha! So, away we went with our pom, poms, & sign. Yelling "Go Titans" to our fellow TN fans...some local & some that had driven or flown in.... We were with "Family". :P At one point I almost said, "Hannah, follow me." to Patti. ha! Hannah & Jeff couldn't make it to the game. They drove in late the night before. 
Loved his "turkey ref hat". He got it online so I'm sure you can google it.
How high does he think he can kick it? :P
Watching warm up. 
After getting a big ole grin out of Finnegan, we walked around to the tunnel area. This stadium has ONE tunnel. We saw "Roary", Fisher, & dude from the plane. Joe & his dad came in about that time. 
The Jesse McCartney half time show was ok even though we were behind him. I swear I took more photos of this but they didn't download for some reason. Stupid me didn't realize he is Paul McCartney's son, duh! We had a great time. We spent the first half in our seats, then during the 3rd qtr, we moved to two empty seats next to Joe & his dad. Before the end of the 4th qtr, I wanted to get just a little closer with the sign. My 2nd altercation of the day came from some ill mannered security woman who didn't want to let me into the WIDE OPEN empty seats vacated by the Lion's fans. So, we sneaked over a section or two. Patti said the woman saw us & was pointing us out to another security person. The other security person probably told her to get a life because they never did make us move. I've NEVER had that problem at LP Field but I've only been an "away fan" twice so whatever.... :P We had a blast & we were home by 5pm to eat turkey & pie.
Today, so far is laundry & being lazy. Patti had a dental emergency that she had to tend to at the office with Dr. Baetz. (That's the only reason I had time for this blog entry) It's almost noon & I still haven't had a shower. ha! Later this afternoon, we'll eat a late lunch/early dinner at the "Lion's den" & then we'll head to Howell, which is like Mayberry. At 6pm, we'll be doing the Fantasy 5k. I had forgot how slow I run in tights even when I haven't been injured so it will be a miracle if I even come close to the 30 min goal I had originally planned but oh well...it's just a fun 5k that kicks off a parade. :) Tomorrow, is the 8 hr drive back to Nashville with Joe. whoo hoo!
Happy Thanksgiving 2008!!!
Pic from my cell. (No, we weren't drunk.) It was dark upstairs. Lots of food set up on every level of the place but my fav was the cheesy spinach dip. Dessert was in the basement. The band was on the street level but we ate upstairs. aVenue is a stones throw from the symphony. Downtown was hopping with the Preds game, symphony, & parties.
If there's a way to look MORE like a goober, I'll find it. However, I did get lots of compliments on the Santa sweater I bought off the street in Howell, MI. (Bulky but Wooly & Warm!) I think I had on 5 layers of clothing & wouldn't you know it...today temps will be low 50s. ugh!!! Some guy with a camera took our photo when we put our toys in the "Toys for Tots" bin. He said it would be on the Titans website.
